Frankfurt Green Sauce - 7 Herbs and Spring Potatoes — Meike Peters | eat in my kitchen (2024)

Sorrel, borage, chervil, burnet, parsley, chives and garden cress, these are the 7 herbs which make up the traditional Frankfurt Green Sauce. Similar to the Italian Salsa Verde or the French Sauce Verte, which are also mainly made of herbs, the famous German version is made of greens growing in the Frankfurt area. Legend has it that the origin of the green herbal sauce is in the Orient and it was brought to Europe by the Romans more than 2000 years ago, enough time for each region to create their own, unique recipes. Apart from the right selection of herbs, there isn't "one" recipe for this sauce from Frankfurt. They all vary, some add heavy cream, sour cream, yoghurt or mayonnaise, some are made with onions, garlic or mustard, but most involve a hard boiled egg.

I developed my own recipe a few years ago when I used to live close to the city of the sauce's origin. To me, the sauce needs 2 crumbled hard boiled eggs, sour cream, olive oil, lemon juice, a little heavy cream for some sweetness, white Balsamico vinegar and salt and pepper, but the focus is definitely on the herbs, you need a lot, 200g / 7 ounces in total!

Traditionally the cold sauce is eaten with boiled spring potatoes, some serve it with cold meat but I prefer to keep it simple and light, the sauce is so fragrant and aromatic that the mild potatoes fit just perfectly.